A BOXING champ was just one of the special guests to come out and support a highly successful food rally at Morrisons in Leamington.
The generous staff at the town’s supermarket have run a number of initiatives across the district to tackle summer holiday hunger.
And perhaps the most momentous of all was a food rally calling for food donations held in the supermarket car park.
Members of Young People First, Lillington Youth Centre, 2nd Warwick Sea Scouts, Warwick Lions and LWS Night Shelter all turned out to volunteer over the course of the five day event.
And there was a special guest each day – from Commonwealth boxing gold medallist Lewis Williams and Mayor of Leamington, Coun Nick Wilkins to The High Sheriff of Warwickshire, David Kelham and the Mayor of Warwick, Coun Parminder Singh Birdi.
Morrisons Community Champion Alexandra Pearson said: “We have the best community and most supportive community I could ask for and I am so proud.
“We had so many donations and I really thought sometimes we wouldn’t be able to fill the bay. But we did and they did it every single time. Our customers are so generous and the food they donated will really support a lot of children and families.
“Seeing the children doing the food rally was amazing as they started off shy but then became so confident. We sometimes forget asking people we don’t know for a donation is very scary but they did it. It really was heartwarming to see. We even let the young people have a go at the tannoy system to let our customers know who they are and who they are collecting for. All of them smashed it, even the High Sheriff.”
Alexandra continued: “In total we filled 181 crates for the week and all went to different places in our community to support. It was amazing to see people come out with a trolley full of items and just two things for themselves. Some customers came in every day and donated every time they visited the store. It was so overwhelming and heartwarming to see the kindness from our customers, during these testing times people are still being generous.”
The store’s other acts of generosity include donating £150 worth of food to local community centre Young People First based at Jubilee Huuse in Leamington. The donation means the team at the community centre can now offer children who attend a breakfast and snacks.
And donating fruit to local holiday club Fit 4 Kids at West Gate Primary School in Warwick.
